V. I. Lenin

Telephone Message to J. V. Stalin

Phoned:July 12 or 13, 1920First Published:First published in the Fourth (Russian) Edition of theCollected Works;Published according to the manuscript copy; revised and amended by V. I. LeninSource:Lenin’sCollected Works, 4th English Edition, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1965,Volume 31, pages 203-204Translated:Julius KatzerTranscription\HTML Markup:David Walters&R. CymbalaCopyleft:V. I. Lenin Internet Archive (www.marx.org) 2002. Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this document under the terms of theGNU Free Documentation License

A Note has been received from Curzon. He proposes
      an armistice with Poland on the following terms: the Polish army
      to withdraw beyond the line fixed by last year’s peace
      conference," viz., Grodno, Yalovka, Nemirov, Brest-Litovsk,
      Dorogiisk, Ustilug, Krylov. This line cuts across Galicia between
      Przemysl and Rava-Russkaya, right up to the Carpathians. We keep
      everything east of this line. Our army is to withdraw 50
      kilometres east of this line. A conference of representatives of
      Soviet Russia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland is to be held
      in London under the auspices of the peace
      conference. Representatives of Eastern Galicia will be allowed to
      attend. We can send anybody we like as our representative. It has
      been proposed to us that we conclude an armistice with Wrangel,
      provided he withdraws to the Crimea. Wrangel is going to London to
      discuss the fate of his army, but not as member of the
      conference. We have been given a week for our reply. Besides, the
      Curzon Note says that the Polish Government has given its consent
      to a peace with Russia, on the basis of these terms.

Such is the Curzon Note. I ask Stalin:

1) to expedite execution of the order to
      furiously inten-sify the offensive;

2) to inform me of his (Stalin’s) opinion.

For my part, I
      think that all this is a piece of knavery aimed at the
      annexation of the Crimea, which is advanced so insolently in
      the Note. The idea is to snatch victory out of our hands with
      the aid of false promises.

Stalin’s reply to be recorded and sent on to
      me by telephone.